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The Communiqué News

Exclusively listen to the latest music by composers Indian composers on Alexa Originals

Mumbai [India], July 13: Amazon has announced Alexa Originals in India, which is a collection of original songs by independent artists. For this, Amazon has collaborated with four Indie composers so that their music can reach as many people as possible and Alexa users can listen to fresh new music.


Swati Bhat

The ever-growing independent music scene — which engaged millions of Indian listeners with catchy hits in the 90s — is finally getting some long-overdue support from a loyal fan base and audio platforms. Recently, Amazon India announced the launch of Alexa Originals, an exclusive selection of new songs by four independent artists from India. Users can now listen to Besabar by Lisa Mishra, Bikhre from Vibha Saraf, Saathi and an instrumental track from Gulraj Singh, and Downtown by Diesby as part of Alexa Originals.

Listeners can say, "Alexa, start Originals" or request a specific song by the artist, saying, "Alexa, start Bikhre from Originals". One can listen to all songs for free on the Amazon shopping app (Android only), Echo Smart speakers, Alexa app for smartphones, and many Alexa built-in devices by other brands such as HP laptops.

“Each Alexa Original song has been created on the theme of relationships and includes music ranging from soul to pop and R&B. With Alexa built-in devices usually enjoyed by the entire family, I'm sure this selection will interest family members with diverse tastes”, says Dilip RS, Country Manager for Alexa, Amazon India. “It has been a delight to collaborate with these indie artists to curate our first line-up of Alexa Originals and we are happy to bring this to customers with the support of HP.”

Talking about her song, singer-songwriter Lisa Mishra says, "’Besabar is an upbeat dance-pop song that I had so much fun making. I hope people enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed making it. I am stoked to be the first few to collaborate with the Alexa team and super excited to see Alexa as the new millennial music destination."

For the last four years, Indian customers have been using Alexa on the Echo range of devices, Fire TV, Amazon shopping app for Android, and Alexa built-in devices by other brands. Listening to music is one of the most popular features, where customers request Alexa to play over 21.6 Lakh songs every day. With Alexa Originals, customers will find new reasons to enjoy music from these talented independent artists on Alexa. In the last three years, preference for music created by independent artists has increased significantly. On Amazon Prime Music, the plays for a song by independent music artists have increased by 37% in the same time frame.

Gulraj Singh, a film music director and singer known for his soothing melodies, says, "I'm so happy to have Saathi released as one of the first songs for Alexa Originals. The song celebrates the true spirit of companionship and friendship, and I had a great time working on it with my lyricist friend Manoj Yadav. I'm always excited to create original music and have experimented with some exciting soundscapes and interesting musical arrangements for my instrumental track. I can't thank Amazon enough for this wonderful opportunity." The instrumental track by Gulraj Singh has a mix of ambient electronic sounds and authentic and ethnic instruments like Esraj, Bouzouki, Saz, Charango, and Mandolin.

Expressing her happiness over Alexa Originals, songwriter and Bollywood playback singer Vibha Saraf says, "I am excited to feature my music on Alexa, where people are going to access my song by simply calling out its title. How much simpler could it get!"

Diesby, an R&B artist who can sing in three languages, is also excited about his upcoming number on Alexa Originals. “Downtown is a love letter. The spark of first love and the beats will keep you grooving. It is the perfect song to dedicate to your beloved. I have created the song with a blend of modern Afro, R&B, and a touch of urban Punjabi. Playing around with different flavours makes the music more interesting and that's what I enjoy with my fellow producer Chapter6.”

Amazon Prime members in India can Discover Joy with the year’s best deals on Alexa-powered Amazon Echo devices during Amazon Prime Day 2022, which kicks off at midnight on July 23 and runs through July 24. The latest Echo smart speakers and smart displays will be on sale with up to 55% off. Also look out for great deals on Alexa built-in smartphones, smartwatches, TVs, speakers, and more.



Google Assistant might soon recognize your voice even better

Washington [US], May 29: Potential plans for improving the Google Assistant feature have been revealed after a comprehensive dissection of the Google app for Android.


Swati Bhat

According to GSM Arena, it's interesting to see that Google is taking another big step towards improving its smart assistant experience. It seems that if users opt-in for an improved Google Assistant experience, the system will store and analyze your own voice for a more 'Personalized speech recognition' to improve response time and accuracy. The assistant will also have access to Google's servers, where summaries of other users' speech models will be aggregated and analyzed. The feature will likely allow more advanced recognition of commands and contact names. As per GSM Arena, it's believed that Google will leave an option in the settings to opt-out of the personalized speech recognition if you don't wish your voice to be stored anywhere.


Researchers use AI to analyze large amounts of biological data

Washington [US], May 12: University of Missouri researchers have applied a form of artificial intelligence (AI), previously used to analyze how National Basketball Association (NBA) players move their bodies, to now help scientists develop new drug therapies for medical treatments targeting cancers and other diseases.


Swati Bhat

The findings of the study were published in the journal Nature Communications. The type of AI, called a graph neural network, can help scientists with speeding up the time it takes to sift through large amounts of data generated by studying protein dynamics. This approach can provide new ways to identify target sites on proteins for drugs to work effectively, said Dong Xu, a Curators' Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the MU College of Engineering and one of the study's authors. "Previously, drug designers may have known about a couple places on a protein's structure to target with their therapies," said Xu, who is also the Paul K. and Dianne Shumaker Professor in bioinformatics. "A novel outcome of this method is that we identified a pathway between different areas of the protein structure, which could potentially allow scientists who are designing drugs to see additional possible target sites for delivering their targeted therapies. This can increase the chances that the therapy may be successful."

Xu said they can also simulate how proteins can change in relation to different conditions, such as the development of cancer, and then use that information to infer their relationships with other bodily functions. "With machine learning we can really study what are the important interactions within different areas of the protein structure," Xu said. "Our method provides a systematic review of the data involved when studying proteins, as well as a protein's energy state, which could help when identifying any possible mutation's effect. This is important because protein mutations can enhance the possibility of cancers and other diseases developing in the body."


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